


The White Haired Youth Club

by Uniasus



Category: D.Gray-man, Danny Phantom, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Snark, something probably only I will get
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-13
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-04 12:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1081216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uniasus/pseuds/Uniasus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, the best thing is just knowing you're not alone.  Even if it's over something as small as being a teenager with white hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As if my profile wasn't a testament to the multifandom fangirl I am, this fic is. I normally don't do crossovers (Fated being the one exception....till now) and I don't know if anyone will even enjoy this one aside from me cause these fandoms are sooo far apart from each other. 
> 
> And got away from me. It was just supposed to be a comic of the first scene, but my drawing sucked, so I wrote it. And then more scenes developed. And oh boy, more followed after that.
> 
> Why did I even put these three boys together? Sometimes, the best thing you can know is that you're not alone. And just how many white haired teens are there?
> 
> This falls into the Timeline? What Timeline? category, but just to warn you expect anything form the fandoms I can recall. That means all of Danny Phantom, up to the Searching for Allen Walker chapters for D.Gray Man, and the Rise of the Guardians movie (and the fandom bit of the characters' history and maybe little snipped from my current fics as it is my current fandom. It's hard to keep stories separate, why do I have to write 3 at the same time?).

Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two seconds. One. And he was through the door! Despite knowing it was well locked as the keypad outside had informed him, Danny still braced his body against the door. He could feel the mob that had followed Danny Phantom pound on it, but it held. With a sigh, he looked towards his fellow club members. Both were on a couch and staring at him.

"Sometimes, I could really do with less attention."

"I don't know," Allen said, throwing a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Certainly could have used a bit more when I was younger."

"Yeah, me too. I waited 300 years for someone to see me, so I'm with Allen on this one. How come you have mobs of people shouting your name and action figures within three years of getting your powers?" Jack humphed and crossed his arms.

Danny took their answers to both mean 'no, I will not help you sneak back outside' and 'stop whining.'

#####

Allen pulled at his hair, bringing in front of his eyes and staring at the stands as if they had personally offended him. "Do you guys ever get called 'old-man hair' or have people think you're older than you usually are?"

Danny looked up from his math textbook, green eyes turned inward as he thought. "Nope, it's a given with the ghost powers and all."

Allen turned to look at Jack, who was very carefully pressing the buttons on the clicker to switch TV channels. He had ruined several already, frosting the insides accidentally and then having the melted ice ruin the circuit boards. "Jack?"

"Hey, I'm three hundred and fourteen. I am old."

#####

Jack was hovering in the middle of the room, frowning. After an hour of it, Danny floated up to join him. "What's up?"

"Have you've ever gotten mistaken as being someone else?"

"Because there are other ghosts with the name Danny Phantom."

"Your cousin?"

"Point. But it's very obvious she's a girl. But really. No other ghost wears a black jumpsuit and has a ghostly wail quite like mine so I'm gonna say no. Why?"

Jack ignored the question in favor of shouting to Allen who was eagerly rubbing his hands together as he cooked something in the microwave. "Allen, you ever been mistaken for some other white haired person?"

In answer, he pointed to the star curse mark above his left eye and gave Jack a look that plainly said 'yes, of course, because akuma scared white haired people are more common than goats on a farm'. Jack didn't appreciate the sarcasm.

"Right then, if you guys are ever kidnapped over a case of mistaken identity, we'll talk."

#####

"I swear, at least once a year all the ghosts in the ghost zone decided to have a 'let's gang up on Danny' party." Danny phased through the wall and then reverted to his human self before he could float over to the couch. He ended up falling three feet and landing face first on the floor. "Ow."

Jack helped him up and then offered a snowball for the black eye Danny would be sporting in an hour. "Be thankful you can fight them off a lot of the time. There's not much I can do when the fire sprites decided to tackle me."

In a flash of green light, Allen transformed his left arm into a large black sword. "You guys are just weak. Who wants to spar? Kanda's away on a mission."

"Many tomorrow," Danny suggested, pushing aside the Sword of Exorcism to claim a couch cushion. And by tomorrow, Danny meant 'never again'. Allen could wipe the floor with him.

#####

Allen had spent the last ten minutes poking at his bared belly. Now however, he was unable to continue his poking because Jack had frozen his index finger inside his belly button. He looked up with a frown.

"Would you pull your shirt down? It's indecent."

"Do you think I'm getting fat?"

Danny sputtered. "I've seen you eat your weight in junk food hundreds of times, and you're just now considering the fact you could put on a few pounds?"

Allen frowned. "Cross said I have. But I don't know if I believe him."

"You haven't." Jack insisted. "Now, pull your shirt down!"

Seeing that his finger was free from ice, Allen did. And then stood up to see what was in the fridge.

#####

"Do you ever think that your friends are weird? Or have weird obsessions?"

Allen and Danny both blinked at Jack, who wasn't looking at them, and then turned their gazes to each other.

"No." Allen said. "They're all normal exorcists."

"You cannot tell me you think a Chinese speaking Japanese man who talks to his sword and looks like a girl from behind is normal." Danny laughed.

"And you think a girlfriend who has no qualms about releasing zoo animals from their cages and loves tofu corndogs is normal?"

The two glared at each other, and then turned back to Jack. "Did Tooth or one of the fairies go crazy over your teeth again?" Allen asked.

"No. But I found out North likes to dive off the roof of the Pole naked into snow banks. And Bunny has this really weird collection of monocles."

"Hey!" Allen said. "Monocles are cool." And activated his eye to prove it.

#####

"I know my parents love me and everything, but I really wish they'd stop asking to do tests on me." Danny phased through the room's wall, trailing small ectoplasm pads and wires that he was pulling off one by one.

"Be happy they're not charging you an expense bill," Allen quipped without looking up from his magazine.

"Or are forcing you to work long hours." Jack added from the couch, sleeping off the intense snow making from Christmas Eve.

Maybe Jack and Maddy weren't that bad.

#####

When Allen walked into the club room, he found the missing golem he had been looking for. Timcampy was being used as a toy by Danny and Jack. Danny would freeze the golden ball with an ice beam from his eyes and after Tim had fallen, cracked, and repaired the golem would flutter widely around the room before Jack would hit him with ice from his staff causing Tim to fall, shatter, and heal again.

Allen watched several repetitions of this game as it went on in the air above him. Eventually, he activated his innocence and used the ends of Crowned Clown's cloak as stilts to raise himself to his friends' level.

Arms crossed, he stared as Jack managed to Tim.

"This has got to stop. It's not fair."

Both game players turned to look at him, and even recently reformed Timcampy on the floor gave him a look that plainly said 'W~hy?'

"I need to practice my aim." Danny protested. "I may be able to hit a Nasty Sauce packet from ten feet way, but only if it's not moving. Tim's the perfect training toy."

"What he said."

Tim fluttered up and started making at faces at Allan, putting in his own two sense and then clearly played a video recording that made Allen a hypocrite for saying such a game had to stop.

"No, I agree, Tim's a great practice partner. You get to work on your aim and he gets to work on his evasion skills. What's not fair is that you to have ice powers and I don't." And the he pouted. Actually pouted.

Jack and Danny just laughed at him.


	2. Field trips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Club decided to visit each other's homes.

## Amity Park

“And this is Casper High.” Danny gestured to the building from the sidewalk in front of it.

Allen nodded absentmindedly, Black Order HQ was much more impressive. Jack was completely ignoring this part of the tour, he'd seen high schools before. When Danny indicated the next part of the tour was to actually enter the school, Jack cut him off.

“This is boring. I thought Amity Park was supposed to be fun.”

Danny huffed, looking to Allen for his opinion. When it was obvious the exorcist agreed he threw his hands in the air. “It's not like ghosts are always here! And aside from yours truly. We have nice, normal days too you know.”

“Could have fooled me with all your whining.”

Danny knocked Jack's staff from his hand with an ecto-beam.

“Is this your idea of a nice, normal day?” Allen picked up Jack's staff to prevent the ice battle he could feel coming. “To me, fighting is a nice, normal day.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Jack snorted and managed to take his staff back. “You guys lead very violent lives.”

“Which is why you always lose our sparing matches.” Allen reached out to pat Jack's shoulder but he floated out of reach.

“Right. Ghost Zone?”

“Finally!” Jack shouted.

* * *

The only reason why they left the Far Frozen was because Allen and Danny ganged up on Jack. He had immediately taken Frostbite as a brother and his ice prowess endeared him to the whole clan.

Danny was more than a little jealous.  
But while Jack and Danny could handle an eternity of cold, Allen couldn't. No matter how many winter activities they partook in to stay warm. So in the middle of a snowball fight, Danny managed to convince everyone to switch from balanced teams to everyone against Jack. 

The Guardian lost, badly, and was now wrapped up and gagged thanks to Crown Clown. Danny held the the winter spirit's staff in one hand and was using the other to help Allen fly back to the portal. Jack was grumpily being pulled along behind them.

“Well, that was better than your town.”

“They say the grass is greener on the other side of the portal. Or at least, the sky.”

Allen rolled his eyes.

There was a high pitched whine and then something blue shot out, cutting through Crown Clown.

“Free!” Jack shouted as the strands around him dissolved. 

The others ignored him in favor of the cause of the blast.

“Look what the ghost cat dragged in. What do you want Skulker?”

Skulker ignored him in favor of staring down the newcomers to the Ghost Zone.

“What's this? Another human friend. Who knew you had so many, Ghost Child. And...you confuse me. You are dead, but not a ghost.”

“Jack Frost, Guardian of Fun, and winter spirit at your service.” 

“Spirit?” Skulker wavered his cannon between Danny and Jack, giving the later time to fly up to the other two teens and reclaim his staff from Danny. “I can't decide which one of you would be a greater prize.”

Allen sighed. “Why does your friend call you a prize and mine think I'm a traitor?”

“Friend? The Ghost Boy and I are mortal enemies.”

“More like undead enemies, but yeah.” Though, under different circumstances, Danny knew he and Skulker could be good friends. “On three?”  
The others nodded and Allen started counting.

“One.” The exorcist slashed at Skulker.

“Two.” Jack yipped as he froze the ghost.

“And three.” Danny let the bolt of ectoplasm that had been glowing in his palms go. It hit Skulker in his chest, sending the ghost far into the Infinite Realms. 

Danny dusted his hands off. “Happy now? You fought a ghost.”

“Well, I do that all the time.” Allen shot him a grin. “And I always win.”

True. Even two on one, Jack and Danny had never beaten Allen. The exorcist had the uncanny ability to heal mid fight.

Allen got a face full of snow and both of them turned to see Jack floating on his back looking innocent.

Danny stepped between his friends to prevent an impromptu sparring session. Again. “I showed you mine, now show me yours.”

“Let's go to London,” Allen said. “I just left the Far Frozen, no way I'm going to the North Pole.”

Jack pouted, but agreed anyway.

## Victorian London

“Welcome to the Black Order.” Allen stood on the bow of the boat and spread out his arms to showcase the large cathedral evident now that hey rounded a bed.

Jack seemed impressed a bit with the size. Danny just raised an eyebrow.

“You live in a church?”

“It is a religious organization. At least it doesn't have a flashing neon sign identifying it to all the world.”

The boat pulled up to a dock, the three of them disembarking before the finders had fully secured the vessel. Jack flew straight up to the ceiling to run a hand over the stone there.

“I've watched churches like this be built, but they still amaze me every time.”

“I thought the other alchemists were going to meet us?”

Allen scratched at the back of his head. “I, uh, didn't tell anyone we were coming.”

“Oh, a surprise!” Jack was beside them again, rubbing his hands together. 

In all actuality, Allen hadn't wanted to cause a fuss. There was no guarantee any of his friends would be here and not on a mission, and Allen wasn't entirely sure it was okay to bring Danny and Jack to the Black Order. It was a secret society of sorts. Better to just bring them and ask for forgiveness later. Not like Central could be more suspicious of him.

Since their favorite pass time was sparring, Allen led them to the training hall first. Kanda was already there, going through katas.

They paused in the doorway. 

“The girly swordsman, I presume?” Danny asked.

“I don't know if I've ever seen girls with that murderous look in their eyes. And I know Mother Nature!”

“Only say that to him if you want to die.”

“He just needs to lighten up,” and before Allen could stop him Jack stepped into the arena to throw a magic induced snowball at the Japanese exorcist. 

Kanda whirled around with a snarl, Mugen slicing the snowball in two so that only a small amount hit him in the face. But Jack's magic was strong and Allen could see the small twitch in Kanda's left cheek that was his version of a smile.

Danny didn't. “Jack's gonna die for a second time in a few minutes, isn't he?”

“Probably. Help or watch?”

Danny settled down cross-legged in mid air. “Watch. From what you said about him, me helping Jack won't make a difference.”

Allen hummed, impressed with one of Jack’s dodges. He had certainly learned how to take advantage of his flight skills in a grounded opponent. “There is something sweet about watching essentially two immortal beings attack each other.”

Jack's body spazzemed as he was shocked with electricity and Danny winced. “I know Jack is pretty much indestructible cuz of his belief base, but that looked like it hurt.”

“And the adrenaline junkie loves it. Who knew it was such a masochist?

“Really? After all the times we fight you?”

“Point.”

There was the sound of shattering ice. Jack had frozen the insect spirits Mugen commanded, causing them to crash to the ground and fragment.

Allen couldn't help but laugh at Kanda's expression. Jack's attack had caught him completely off guard.

At the sound, Kanda's head snapped towards the other exorcist. “Bean sprout! Help me take this akuma out! I can't believe it got in.”

“Hey! I'm not an akuma!” Jack huffed, mock upset.

Laughing, Allen entered the ring with Danny beside him. “They're friendly spirits, like sixty-six.”

Kanda looked like he didn't want to believe it, but Allen's inactive eye was proof enough. 

“We're also sparring partners,” Danny added, tossing an ecto-ball up and down with one hand.

Allen could immediately tell Kanda was interested. “Two on two, I get the icicle here.” He jerked his thumb at Jack.

With a bright green light, Allen activated Crown Clown. “You're on.”

* * *

Bruised and sore an hour later, the four of them found themselves sharing a table in the cafeteria.

“I can't believe someone else eats almost much as you do.”

Danny blinked up at Kanda's comment, miffed. No way he ate near the amount Allen did, even if they both generated the energy for their powers themselves.

“Allen was right, you are stupid. Danny's got three plates and Allen's got five.”

Any other day and any other person would find Kanda aiming his sword at the neck of the person who made such a comment. But he was in a good mood because he and Jack had won and Kanda still wasn't sure of all of the spirits' abilities. 

“You're not gonna threaten him?” Allen asked surprised. 

Kanda shrugged. “The icicle is better than you.”

Danny chocked on a potato. Allen snapped an arm over the table and yanked on Jack’s sleeve. Not wanted to be dragged over the wood, he floated over the table so Allen could clutch him. “Back off Kanda. Jack's my friend.”

“I'm flattered Allen, truly, but I'm a traditional guy. Colonial virtues and all that.”

The exorcist cuffed him and Jack laughed. “Hurry up and eat, or will get to Burgess after bedtime.”

## Burgess

As it turned out, they got to Burgess just after Sandy so the kids were asleep. Instead, Jack introduced his friends to the Dream Guardian.

Danny was immediately taken with the golden Guardian, discussing dreams and going off about a ghost named Nocturne. Jack had a feeling Danny only understood half of what Sandy signed, but he seemed to keep up well enough.

Allen on the other hand was wary about the Sandman and Jack supposed he couldn't blame his friend. He had bad experiences with people with golden eyes messing around with his head. 

For Allen's sake, and okay his too because Jack was getting antsy and leading towards bored, he announced that he wanted to show his friends Santa's Workshop.

Danny was hesitatn, bad Christmas memories Jack knoew, but Allen just wrinkled his nose. “You mean he's really real?”

Sandy, appalled at kids not excited at the idea of Santa immediately sent them north. Jack smiled goodbye at his fellow Guardian, hands full with Allen and his staff while Danny flew under his own power. 

Allen was just as fond of the North Pole as he was the Far Frozen, but Jack's challenge had his eyes shine.

“You tried for 300 hundred years to get in and couldn't?”

“Yeah. Now I can just knock, but what's the fun in that?”

“Easy as pie,” Danny began, drifting on his back towards the nearest wall. “I'll just phase through and ow!”

The other two snickered. 

“Santa has a ghost shield?”

Jack shrugged. Last he checked North didn't have ghostly protections, at least like Amity Park did. It was probably just magic. Spirits and ghosts weren't that different. Oh well, even playing field.

“Right, rules.” Jack rubbed his palms together. There was a new element to this game and he couldn't wait to play. “First in, and stay for more than five minutes, wins. Try not to break things, lookout for yeti, and if anyone tries to rough you up, just say I sent you.”

“Will people try to rough us up?” Honestly, Allen shouldn't look so gleeful at the idea of a friendly fight. 

“Mm, the yeti might. You're strangers after all. I'll give you guys a minute head start, since I know the Workshop. Set, go!”

Allen and Danny zoomed off in opposite directions. The exorcist partly blended into the snow thanks to his Innocence cape so Jack had a hard time following him. Danny, in his black jumpsuit, was easy to see on a chimney’s top. He'd find out soon enough that every fire was always lit. Not pleasant for a frost sprite and most likely an ice-cored ghost as well.

To play fair, Jack had originally planned to kick himself out if a yeti noticed him. But well, it didn't quite work out that way. He liked winning. Still, he took his time as he walked towards the kitchen. 

Once inside, he greeted Debra and Alex, two of the cooks, and accepted their mug of iced hot chocolate. Three minutes late, Allen dropped from the ceiling. “I'll take one too please, but hot.”

“A-Allen!” Jack fumbled with his mug and almost dropped it in surprise. As it was, most of his drink ended up on his hoodie. 

The yeti, pulling out maces from random kitchen cupboards, paused as it was obvious Jack knew the newcomer.

“I win,” the exorcist smirked, taking a seat next to Jack. “I picked the kitchen lock and open the door. When a yeti came to see what was up, I snuck in and clung to the rafters. Two minutes before you.”

Jack noticed the yeti frowning up at the kitchen rafters. He had a feeling they'd start upgrading the security soon. “Any sign of Danny?”

Allen shook his head, and then will all the British politeness he could muster thanked Debra as she gave him his drink and set a replacement for Jack down on the table.

“Let's go check.” Jack led the way out of the kitchen and up towards the Globe room. There was a smack and both teens turned to see a white haired, green eyed face pressed against the window. 

Jack and Allen waved at Danny, and then continued walking. They could just make out Danny's shouts through the window pane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reasons I can't quite explain, these three are unnaturally fond of fighting in this fic. Expect to see at least one more chapter for this fic – now that they've visited each others' worlds I want to do an crossover of each one. Only loosely have an idea for one of them though – any objections to Danny being a DGM style broker?


	3. The Broker of Coopersville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fusion of the three fandoms centered around DGM. Again, it's TWT (iimeline, what timeline?) but roughly before all the stuff with the fourteenth. And now that I've stated that I've limited myself to Allen's arm pre-Crown Clown. Aw man, that's a different fighting style!

Allen was jostled awake by the train jerking to a halt. He made to stretch, but found his face frozen to the window pane.

"Jack," he groaned.

Jack, sitting across from him in the compartment, snickered. "Sorry Allen, but you were drooling and I just couldn't resist freezing your drool to the window."

"Ha ha. Now get me free."

Jack gave one last snicker and then blew hot breath on Allen's chin. The other exorcist’s staff was good at freezing, not thawing things. "I'll take forever if you just blow on my face."

"Hold on to your knickers. As soon as the train started slowing I sent Tim off to get a hot cloth. And here he is now!" Jack backed off as the golden golem flew over. He dropped the wet cloth on Allen's face who sputtered, but within seconds he was free. 

No longer attached to the window, Allen stood up to stretch. He reached one hand into the air and then the other, taking his time because he could see Jack bouncing impatiently out of the corner of his eye. 

"Allen, come on! Don't you want to eat?"

"Yes. Yes I do." Together, they stepped out onto the train platform. 

Jack glared at the sun overhead. "I thought England was supposed to be all cloudy and rainy. Not sunny. Make it go away, Allen."

In response, Allen pulled up the hood attached to Jack's exorcist uniform. "I don't understand you. It's warmer in your part of America than here."

"I blame the cars and buildings," Jack scowled at one of said cars as it chugged past. "They create and trap heat." He threw his hood back and Allen rolled his eyes.

"Come on, the hotel is around here."

Allen stuffed his hands in his pockets and sped up. Jack jogged a couple of paces to catch up, and then settled in at the same speed. Both of them had shocking white hair and on top of that Allen had a curse mark over his left eye. They attracted attention, and like Jack had said it was too warm to go around with their hoods up. It was best to get to the hotel quickly.

"I'm not sure The Leaky Roof is a good name for an inn. Can't we stay some where else?"

Allen sighed and pushed Jack through the door. "Sure, but we'd have to pay. I know you're new to the Order, but we wouldn't actually be put up at a place with holes in the roof. The church does better than that, and I can tell you for a fact the food here is excellent." Allen bypassed the check in counter, heading straight for the kitchen and leaving Jack to pick up their room key.

By the time the younger exorcist had joined him, Allen was already on his second bowl of soup.

"So," Jack said after accepting a bowl of his own from the cook, "Does the Order use this place a lot?"

"A bit, yeah. Especially if you're coming from the North and not by ship into London. There's direct trains from here to London, but not everyday. Just Wednesday and Friday."

"We gotta stay here for two whole days?" Jack's head met the table. "But it's so tiny! What are we gonna do for fun?"

"You froze my spit to the window for fun on a train. You'll find something entertaining here."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Look." Allen put down his spoon and looked across the table at Jack. "I know a lot of the other exorcists don't mingle with those not associated with the Order."

"Or those in the Order."

"No one is as stuck up as Kanda, but yes. What I'm trying to say is, you can hang out with normal people. I saw you eying the kids in Canada. You wanted to go play with them."

"That obvious, huh?"

"Very. But you can you know, at least here where we aren't pressured by a mission. This is a paid vacation, do what you want."

"And am I correct in assuming you're going to eat the hotel out of potatoes?"

"Nah. Like I said, the Order uses this place from time to time. They know better. They could have three parasitic exorcists here and not run out of food. Or at least, not for long. That one time they went and bought all the kitchen stock from another hotel around the corner."

* * *

Allen was getting ready for bed when Jack stormed into the room, threw his staff on the floor, and then plopped on the bed face first.

"Jack?" he walked over to his friend's bed, not sure if it was safe to talk or not. "Did the kids not like you?"

With a huff, Jack pushed himself up. He waved his arms around while he talked. "No, the kids loved me. Who didn't were their parents. Apparently, having Innocence that magically creates ice is witchcraft. They completely ignored the cross on my coat and refused to believe me when I said the powers came from up high."

Allen sat down next to Jack on the bed. "I'm sorry."

"It's, it's not your fault. But now I feel like I can understand why people in the Order tend to just hang out with people from the Order."

"Don't be like that, you said the kids liked you."

"True. I'll just have to be sneaky about future fun I guess."

"That's the spirit. Now, I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed."

"Got to sleep off all that food?"

"I metabolized most of it already, thank you very much." 

Jack tossed a snowball at the back of his head before making his way to the bath.

* * *

Allen sat up with a gasp, eye activated and the immediate area drained of color. Jack was up too, hand already reaching for his staff propped up against the wall. 

"Akuma?" he asked.

"Yeah. A couple of blocks over, at the edge of my senses. It's a level one and has to be new for me not to have picked it up during the day."

Both teens swung their feet out of bed and headed towards the door. As Allen touched the doorknob though, his eye went back to normal.

"Allen?"

"The akuma just disappeared."

"You can't tell me that's normal."

"No, it's not." Allen pushed open the door. "I can take us to where my eye picked it up and we can search from there."

Jack nodded and they both ran down the street. It was a bit difficult, but not much, traveling to a spot he had seen in the black and white world and not the real one. Like he had told Jack, the Order used this town a lot and Allen was familiar with it. 

"Is that ash?" Jack asked, immediately covering his mouth to protect himself from the poison of akuma remains.

"Yes. Someone destroyed the akuma for us."

"Is there another exorcist in town?"

"If there is, they'd be at our hotel. We'll most likely see them at breakfast."

"In that case, race you back. Loser has to - hey!"

Allen was already running with a grin on his face.

* * *

There was no other exorcist at breakfast the next morning, and when Allen asked at the counter if another Order member had checked in the proprietor said no. Just the two of them.

"An independent accommodater?" Jack asked. Allen entertained the notion for a small while, then shook his head.

"I know you were one, but I can't see one here. The Order comes through too often. We would have picked up any loose Innocence long ago and noticed if someone was going around killing akuma."

"A traveling independent accommodater?"

Allen sighed and shook his head, continuing on his walk. His plan was to circle the town, hoping for something, he wasn't sure what yet. Jack walked some what beside him. Instead of sticking to the streets, the teen was walking along roof edges and jumping from house to house as nimble as a cat. He was attracting all sorts of attention, Allen too since their conversation wasn't exactly private with so much space between them, but stares were something both of them were used to.

Three hours later, they had gone full circle and found nothing to hint at how the akuma died. Or even who it had been, which was just as strange. Sure, akuma were the souls of the dead in a stolen body, but that body usually had a human life and it's recent change to ash was bound to cause some stir in town.

"Who doesn't anyone notice a missing person?" Jack mused as they cut across town to a bakery Allen insisted they visit for lunch.

"Depends on the person. If they don't have anyone to miss them, no one would."

"How sad."

"It happens." Allen had seen it first hand. Jack, with his happy life in Pennsylvania came from a much more pampered life than many other exorcists. His biggest childhood trauma was poor crops. Or leaving his family to become an exorcist. It tended to change depending on Jack's mood, but regardless Jack had had it easy.

There was a whir as Allen's eye activated and to hide it from the people on the street he quickly pulled his hood up. Jack noticed and stopped, moving his staff from over both shoulders to standing ready by his hand.

"Where is it?"

"In the church over there and..."

"And what? Let's kill it."

"It's not acting like a normal akuma. The body is...participating in the church service."

Jack rose an eyebrow and skipped towards the large church on the end of the plaza. Allen followed at a more sedate pace and meet up with Jack in the doorway. 

"The kid at the front, right? He keeps looking at me."

Allen nodded, staring at the aforementioned kid and the chained soul above him. The kid himself looked to be their age with messy black hair and sky blue eyes. The soul chained to the body looked female.

An akuma not only in a church, but an active member? An alter boy? More than just a little strange.

"Should we take him out?"

"Not now, they're in the middle of a funeral. Have some tact Jack."

He blew a raspberry. "If he goes crazy while in there, a lot of people will die."

"He's not going to do anything, otherwise he would have. If we go in, Innocence activated, we'll cause a panic. Look, you see if you can get information about him. I'm going to make a call."

"Okay."

Satisfied, Allen made his way back to The Leaky Roof and called up Komui through Tim. The golem hovered in the air, one end of the phone line in his mouth while Allen held the receiver to his ear and waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Oh! Lenalee, is your brother around?"

"Yes, he's sleeping on his desk next to me. Should I wake him?"

"Please."

"You and Jack aren't injured, are you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. We just found something strange."

"Okay then. Brother, bro~ther, Allen's on the phone."

Allen heard a loud grunt and snickered. However, Lenalee eventually roused Komui and when he took over the phone there was no trace of sleepiness in his voice.

"Lenalee said you found something odd."

"Yes. We made it to Coopersville okay, but last night my eye detected an akuma. It was destroyed before we got there though, and there aren't any other exorcists here."

"Strange. Maire was there just last week and didn't notice anything. And I haven't heard any reports of an non-Order exorcist."

"I figured. But Komui, there's also a level two akuma who's an alter boy here."

"Level two? That can't be. It takes awhile for them to level up and we have exorcists through that town so often they never get the chance to level up on the rare occasion the Earl does make an akuma."

"I know. This akuma powered up fast. I have Jack asking around about the body, but the town doesn't seem any different from before. Usually if a place has an akuma attacking people, there are signs of it."

"Yes, yes. And as Coopersville is familiar with us and what we do, I would suspect the villagers to tell you if they thought an akuma was around."

"I figured the same."

"This is strange. See if you can figure it out before the train leaves tomorrow, if not stay there until Friday."

"We'll try to do it tonight. We're both eager to come home."

"Alright then. Stay safe Allen. And tell Jack that too."

There was a click and the line went dead. Tim spat out the cord and Allen reattached it to the phone. 

"Come on, Tim. Let's see what Jack found out. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can eat Jerry's cooking."

* * *

The funeral was making it's way through town from the church to the cemetery located on a hill just past the farthest house. Allen didn't see Jack anywhere and so returned to the church. He found him playing with street kids, but when he saw Allen Jack waved goodbye and joined the other white haired teen on a nearby roof.

"Playing again?"

"I'll have you know, those kids were very well informed about Danny."

"Danny?"

"The alter boy, Daniel Fenton but just goes by Danny. A few years ago, his parents died. The kids didn't know how, only that it was sudden, so I'm guessing akuma. They were known for being white witches." Jack wrinkled his nose. "Considering how happy parents were to see my ice yesterday, they weren't real popular I'd guess. Anyway, they died and then it was just Danny and his sister Jasmine. But she died a few months ago now, a fever sickness. Danny's been an alter boy for almost a year now, didn't cry at his parents death nor Jasmine’s. He doesn't act much different, aside from talking less. But that's normal in grief."

"It must be his sister's soul I saw then. There's no doubt he's an akuma, he probably tried to bring his sister back, but he's not acting like one. It's strange."

Jack shrugged. "I'll take your word for it. You've been an exorcist longer than me. What did HQ say?"

"Nothing you wouldn't suspect. Get rid of the akuma and don't come home till you do. Stay safe."

"Should be easy, right?"

"Have you ever fought a level two before?" Jack had only been an exorcist a few months. 

"Um...no."

"Then it may or may not be easy. It'll depend on it's powers. But it shouldn't be too hard since I'm with you. Remind me to tell you about my first fight with one on the train back. It almost had me and Kanda."

"No way! That hard ass?"

Allen snickered. "Yes. But you can't tell the story to anyone else!"

"Promise."

* * *

They stood at the back of the mourning party. The priest was saying a prayer and the alter boys were standing around the grave holding incense lanterns. Danny kept sending them glances. In other towns, maybe they would have blended in with those who knew the deceased, but here they were known to be exorcists by their coats.

Danny was the only one who was bothered by their presence. 

Eventually, the prayers were said and flowers were laid over the coffin. Danny kept eyeing a weeping woman, most likely the wife of the man the service was for, but didn't approach her. 

Slowly, the group of people made it's way back to the church and the grave diggers who had been hanging back came forward. Danny made sure to stick with the priest, sending looks at them over his shoulder. 

"I kinda expected a fight." Jack said, leaning on his staff while he watched the group walk off.

"We'll have one most likely. Have you heard of a broker yet?"

"You mean, some one who deals with money?"

"Sorta. Lenalee and I ran into one once. In exchange for convincing people to talk to the Earl, a man was getting money. I've never seen a town produce so many akuma naturally, and for an akuma like Danny to exist-"

"You think there's a broker here."

Allen shrugged and looked at the other exorcist. "It's the only thing I can think of that makes sense."

"What does this mean in terms of getting back to HQ?"

"That most likely, the broker will bring that grieving widow back here tonight. Let's go have some lunch and rest up before tonight. We'll come back just after sunset."

"So...I can go play with the kids again?"

"I'm not going to stop you."

* * *

Jack was practicing with his powers, trying to create an ice copy of the angel on a nearby mausoleum. It wasn't going very well; the blocks of ice were just that, blocks.

"You know, the lump on the back of this one could be wings."

Allen squinted at it and determined Jack was just really hoping for progress. 

"I think you're right."

Jack smiled, crushed the ice block with the end of his staff, and used his Innocence to call up another one. It was rather fascinating to watch, Allen didn't know of a single other exorcist who had ever tried to use their Innocence for something other than fighting akuma. It was nice to know it could be done, but he had no idea what he could use his for. 

Well, maybe to make money off of arm wrestling contests. That had merit. 

Allen was so interested in Jack's effort amongst the tombstones they hid behind that he didn't know there were other people in the cemetery until they were feet way and talking.

"You sure this will work? I won't just turn into an akuma like those Order kids fight?"

"I'm a servant of god. I do actual miracles and don't deal with devils in disguise. Have you seen any demons in Coopersville?"

"No."

Jack nudged Allen. 'Priest?' he mouthed and Allen nodded. A eunuch priest by the sounds of it too.

"What do I have to do?" That had to be the widow. 

"My dear~, just call out your husband's name!"

'Who's that?' Jack mouthed, but Allen was already pushing himself over the tombstone. The Earl was here, and where was the priest? There was only Danny. And the widow, who opened her mouth and screamed.

"TRAVIS!!"

Allen had to stop to get his footing as the ground shook as Travis's soul occupied the skeleton figure beside the Earl. Jack was beside him, hissing in a sharp breath.

"Come on! We can still save the woman!"

Allen lept forward and found himself knocked aside by an ice blast. "Jack, what -"

"It's not me!"

"It was me," Danny said. He walked forward, palm forward, to a soundtrack of the Earl cheering on his akuma and the widow's pleas for help. 

"Jack, you go help her. I'll take care of the akuma."

Jack sprinted left. Danny conjured a glowing green wall in his path and Jack hit it hard. Despite being see through, it was obviously solid. 

"Neither of you are going to stop that akuma from forming." As they watched, Danny's skin split down the center of his body and his akuma form emerged. White hair, glowing green eyes, and his hands were glowing too. Unlike other type of akuma, he looked for the most part like a teenager. No odd armor, no animalistic parts. Even the tell tale akuma star wasn't on his face but centered over his chest. He did however, lack legs.

"He looks like 66," Jack noted. Allen agreed, but didn't have the time answer. Instead, he activated his arm and rushed forward. He and Jack had developed a bit of a system over their roving mission - while they both did best with range attacks, Allen had an option for close quarter blows that Jack didn't. Jack was working on using his staff as a weapon, he really was, but at the moment he was only proficient with the effect of the Innocence within it. Specifically the power to freeze water be it into snow or ice. So, Allen got in close with his large clawed hand or sword, depending on how he felt, and Jack attacked from afar with potshots. 

Neither of them expected Danny to have multiple powers. He could turn intangible, making Allen's slashes useless though Jack managed to surprise him several times with shots at his back. Danny also could shoot out beams or balls of ice and something that seemed to be pure energy despite it's green glow. 

He was a strong level two and no doubt close to evolving.

Dodging a glowing energy beam, Allen looked towards the freshest grave. The Earl was gone, but by the jerky way the widow got to her feet it was obvious she was now an akuma.

Jack noticed too and swore.

At the sound, Danny turned to look towards the new akuma. Jack and Allen both took the opportunity to take a shot at his back and both connected. Danny was forced to the ground and braced himself against a face plant with his hands. He shot a glare at them over his shoulder, and then flew off towards the widow.

The exorcists gave chase. 

Jack continued with minor attacks at Danny's retreating form and Allen jumped up onto a sturdy headstone to plant his feet. He aimed his arm cannon at the widow while he drew up the power of his Innocence. If he timed it right, Allen could hit both Danny and this new akuma with a single blast. It probably wouldn't save the soul in Danny's body, but it would save Travis's. 

Danny pulled his arm back, a large glowing ball of energy in it. Thinking the akuma was going to twist around and lob it at Jack, Allen called out a warning. But Danny didn't aim for Jack. He aimed for the new akuma.

It was surrounded for a brief minute by green flames and then exploded. Allen quickly covered his mouth with his right hand, still holding his left in a ready position, and watched the man's soul float upwards.

Akuma killing akuma wasn't that unheard of, but it was usually a manner of absorbing the weaker ones and gaining their powers. 

The dust was slowly dissipating and Allen looked around for Jack. It was too thick to make out much, but he could hear the other exorcist coughing from a distance father away that Allen had last seen him. Good, he had gotten out of most of the blast, and if he was coughing that meant he wasn't dead.

"Jack? You okay?" Allen swept his arm in an arc, searching for Danny.

"Yeah -hack- I'm fine. Grave dirt is not very tasty, let me tell you. But yeah, I'm ACK!"

"Jack!" Allen jumped off the headstone and slowly made his way towards where he had heard Jack's voice. There was a form coming towards him, and the akuma ash was spread out enough that Allen could tell it wasn't the typical form of a person. He held his canon out, sharp green petals eerie in the night.

"You'll regret it if you shoot," a voice that wasn't Jack said.

"Why?"

"I figured you two were friends." 

Allen could see now. Danny had one hand over Jack's mouth and the other, which was glowing, around his throat. He wasn't standing behind the exorcist, not really since he didn't have legs, but was floating at Jack's eye level and taking care to keep Jack between himself and Allen.

"Let him go."

"If I do, you'll kill me."

"I'll save your soul."

Danny paused and Jack stopped walking forward. This close, Allen could tell that Jack had dropped his Innocence and his eyes were wide with panic as he struggled. It was harsh, but Allen knew he couldn't pay a lot of attention to Jack right now. Danny, and getting him to release his friend, was more important. 

"You can't do that."

"I can. I can see your soul too." Allen lowered his arm, slightly, and looked up. "I can't see much, you're in so much pain, but I can tell you're a young lady. With red hair. I know your name is Jasmine."

Danny sucked in air. Jack stopped struggling.

"I...I want to be free, but I can't."

"Does this have something with you being a broker?" And really, an akuma as a broker? That was new. It was a pity Allen hadn't came across Jasmine and Danny during a previous visit to Coopersville. 

"I have to save the town."

"That's not your job."

"It is. My parents did it, and not that they aren't here I have to. We know the Order and with that we know that demons are real. How can we know of danger, but not take action against it? Most people here wouldn't call the Earl, but if one did? If an akuma travels from some place else? Exorcists aren't always here, my family picked up the slack, but now it's just me and I'm not...I wasn't..."

"Strong enough," Jack finished for him. Danny had been so involved with his conversation with Allen that he had released his grip on the exorcists mouth. The akuma's hand was still resting on his throat, but it was no longer glowing.

"I had to get stronger, the only was was to level up -"

"So you became a broker." Allen had a whole new level of respect for Danny, Jasmine, and the whole Fenton family. To go up against akuma without Innocence to protect a town that thought them crazy. To hold on to that determination and purpose even after death. 

"Yes."

Jack shifted in Danny's grasp. It just reminded him that Jack was a shield and Danny increased the pressure of his hand.

"Look," Jack said, trying and failing to look behind him to see Danny. "I get wanting to be strong and protecting your town. I did the same thing too. I didn't want to leave. If I left, who would stop the akuma?"

"So why did you?" Danny asked and Allen found himself curious about the answer too. Jack had arrived with a flurry of smiles and laughter, talking about how excited he was to be out of America and able to travel the world.

"I was the reason the akuma kept coming. I found a glowing staff one day and realized I could kill demons with it. But it was the Innocence in the staff drawing the akuma to Burgess, they could sense it. I protected the town best by leaving it."

"I know you're just trying to protect Coopersville," Allen began, "but you're encouraging the people here to call up akuma to give you more strength. I know you killed the akuma that was around here the other night, but what if it had escaped? And in being a broker, how many souls have you chained and people killed to get to level two so quickly?"

"I had to! No one else is protecting this town!"

"We are," Allen insisted. "We might not be here everyday, but we are here frequently. Since the Order started using this town as a travel station, it has had the lowest report of akuma attacks and formation in the world. Except for these past few months in which it sky rocketed."

"Danny, Jasmine, we know you mean well. But you have put this town in more danger than it has ever been in, even if you do take care of it." Jack snaked his hand up to his neck and grasped Danny's hand. Slowly, he pulled it down. "Please, let us put your soul to rest."

"I...okay," he whispered. Danny released Jack entirely and the exorcist quickly made his way to his fallen staff. The akuma watched as Jack picked up the shepherd’s crook and made his way to stand next to Allen. Allen kept his cannon trained on Danny the entire time. 

"Will this hurt?"

"No clue," Jack said, pointing the top of his staff at Danny. 

"If it does, it will be brief. And afterwords, you'll find peace. Souls always look happy when I exorcise an akuma."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Allen nodded at Danny and then turned to look at Jack. The other exorcist nodded and as one they shot at Danny. The akuma's green eyes went wide, mouth falling open in an o. Allen looked above it to where he could see Jasmine as she had been in life. A young woman with long red hair dressed in a blue dress with black trim. She smiled down at him and Allen had just enough time to smile back before Danny's body burst into dust.

Jack immediately threw up his arm to cover his mouth and jumped back. "Up for a late night snack?" he asked around the limb.

"Always." Allen turned around and they made their way to the inn.

* * *

They had a bit of time before the train pulled in, helped by an annoying rooster whose morning crows had them out of bed much earlier than either of them had wanted, and by unspoken agreement they found themselves heading towards the cemetery.

"Tell me true, have you ever fought an akuma like that before?"

"No." Allen shook his head. Jack stopped at a flower stall and paid for a small bouquet. Allen considered getting one too, but he had never been one to leave flowers on graves. "They usually don't recall anything of their old lives. Especially not as a level one like Jasmine was when she became a broker."

"It's a pity I never meet any of the Fentons before they died. Did you?"

"Maybe?" Allen walked through the cemetery’s gate and made his way to the care keeper’s cottage. Jack and him and avoided it last night. "I never really talked to people here before, just those at the inn and they're usually fellow travelers and not residents. I probably saw them walking around however and didn't know it."

Jack hummed, and then grinned at the old man who stood in the cottage’s doorway. "Good morning, we're looking for the graves of the Fenton family?"

The man pointed towards the southwest corner. "They're over there."

"Thanks!" Jack gave a cheery wave with the flowers and then skipped a few step to catch up to Allen who had already started walking. 

It didn't take long to find the three graves. They were lined up next to each other. 

Jasmine Fenton, 16. Madeline Fenton, 42. Jack Fenton 43. 

There was no grave for Daniel Fenton, but there would be soon. By lunch people would know the alter boy was missing, the exorcists would be asked questions, and Allen wouldn't be able to lie to them. He'd say that Danny had been an akuma for months.

As Allen watched, Jack split up the bouquet of flowers and put a few stems at the bottom of each headstone.

"They would have made a good exorcist," Jack said.

Allen didn't know who exactly Jack was talking about. The witch parents? The strong willed children they left behind? Maybe just one of them? The akuma's soul had been Jasmine's, but for it to have such a purpose after death Allen suspected Danny's thoughts had aligned with his sister's. 

"Or finders," Jack continued. "I wouldn't have minded working with any of them."

"They were so dedicated to protecting this town, I doubt any of the Fentons would have joined the Order." 

"Yeah." Jack leaned on his staff and Allen stood with his hands in his pockets, both of them staring at the headstones. After a minute, they both turned and started for the train station. 

Danny's fate was sad, but not unusual. Even Jack with his new status as an exorcist knew that. They had to look forward, keep traveling the road at their feet. There were other people to protect, other souls to save.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...got away from be a bit. I did not expect it to be this long but I just loved playing with Jack and Danny in this world. I'm hoping to write fusions into the other universes too, but don't have solid plans yet. Though might play with the themes of The Moon's Gift for the RotG one. And give Allen a Valerie Gray role in the DP one. Thoughts?


	4. Soul Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a new student at Casper High that sets Danny's nerves on edge. There's also a suspicious lack of ghosts to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who follow me on [Tumblr ](http://uniasus.tumblr.com/) already knew this was coming ^_~

Danny knew a little bit about getting bullied. Okay, more than a little bit. He also knew more than a little bit about being on the outside of the high school pecking order. It only made sense he introduced himself to the new kid in an effort to make him feel welcome and extend an invitation to hang out with some people who wouldn't tease him.

Except he got a good look at Allen Walker during their time in the cafeteria line and Danny learned a few things. One was that Allen didn't need the scar over his eye to look tough, there was a hardened edge in his eyes that reminded Danny of his own sometimes when he looked into a mirror as Phantom. If the kid wore that expression on his face all the time, it would explain while Dash hadn't stuffed Allen in a locker yet and kept himself to names Allen seemed well-equipped to brush off. 

The second thing that Danny learned was that Allen's scared face, white hair, and prosthetic arm didn't make him feel insecure enough to accept an offer of friendship. The other teen had looked him up and down and then plastered a grin on his face while he said "thanks for the offer, but I don't like who you associate with."

Danny could feel Sam's anger growing behind him, but he noticed Allen hadn't given his friends so much as a glance.

"And who would that be?" Danny turned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ghosts," Allen responded. 

Before Danny could over come his shock Allen had picked up his try and skipped over the freshman in front of him to continue getting lunch.

Danny turned to his friends, mouth moving but no words coming out.

"Apparently your parent's ghost hunting habits are so uncool they had to tell the new kid right away as a warning." Sam shook her head. "I can't wait for high school to be over."

Tucker pushed Danny's tray down the line to get his own meatloaf. "Either that, or it's not just Amity Park who knows about the Fentons."

"I'm note sure which is worse."

* * *

It had been a weird two weeks. Danny's ghost sense had gone off three times, but the ghosts he had gone to trap had simply joked with him before compliantly returning to the Ghost Zone. He would have put it down as actually making friends with the other ghosts, or their realization that they would never beat and him and decided to stop harassing Amity Park, if it hadn't been for Skulker giggling so hard it was hard for him to speak. 

And then Vlad had randomly shown up last night, five tickets to a monster truck rally the next town over and had proceeded to spend a night with the Fentons where everyone (aside from a creeped out Danny) had a good time. Vlad hadn't insulted his dad. Hadn't hit on his mom. And he actually drew Jazz into a conversation about something called the 'spiral of silence'. 

"I'm telling you guys, there's something going on! Something's got to be affecting the ghosts in town." Danny stuffed five fries in his mouth and angrily chewed. 

"Then why haven't you been affected?" Sam asked.

"Maybe Danny's immune?" Tucker shrugged. 

"Yeah, maybe. But immune to what?"

"Does it really matter?" Sam asked. "You haven't had a real fight in month. We've caught up on all the TV episodes we've missed this past month and you got a B on that pop quiz on Monday. Just let it go, this is good for you."

"Yeah, I guess." Danny played with his straw. "I mean, it's been nice not to have my parents on my back this week. But it feels wrong."

Sam rolled her eyes but Tucker was nodding along. "I get it. It's a manly quest for knowledge. And fighting. What's a superhero with no villains to fight?"

A flash of white caught Danny's eye and he looked up to see Allen walk into Nasty Burger. The other teen caught his eye, sniffed, and then quickly turned around. Danny rolled his eyes. Sam and Tucker turned around to see what caught his attention.

"Allen still bothering you man?"

"Not exactly. He keeps acting like I'm beneath him, which is annoying." As was the way Allen had managed to get close to Paulina's group but still attract Dash's animosity. Though the jock's insults had been pretty weak as of late.

"He hasn't done anything yet about saying you hang out with Phantom?"

"I've gotten a few looks the day after fights, but nothing else. He's another weird thing. Hey, you don't think he's affecting the ghosts?"

Sam shook her head. "I doubt it. We've never seen him near any of them. And I don't think there's anything could send a ghost into a giggle fit other than another ghost."

"Yeah, probably," Danny muttered as he watched the cashier hand Allen seven Nasty Burgers, two milkshakes, and a full bag of fries. 

He turned his attention to his friends. "Maybe we should patrol tonight. It is a Friday. If it is a ghost giving others happy attacks, we should find it."

"Sounds good to me. I tinkered with the engine of my moped and want to try it out." Tucker took a bit of his burger while Sam rolled her eyes. 

"Your house at eight?" She turned to Danny.

"Yup, I'll meet you by the opposite corner of the block."

* * *

The night wasn't a patrol so much as a joy flight over his friends' heads. No ghost meant no trouble and Danny found himself joining a peaceful night in the company of his friends while the wind brushed through his hair. 

That was, until his ghost sense went off. 

Danny jerked to a stop, Sam and Tucker turning to back track as Danny flew down a side street. The light posts here had a slight dusting of frost, unusual for a September evening and Danny mentally called up his ice core. If he was going to fight a ghost with ice powers, it would be best if he responded with the same. 

He flew up to a rooftop and spotted the ghost. He hadn't seemed to notice Danny yet, perched on the edge of a roof with his back to Danny and looking down. This ghost was relatively human looking, no ghost tail or flaming hair, dressed in leather pants and a blue sweatshirt. Danny guessed he was young, the frost around his feet and on his clothes seemed to have formed without a thought and made Danny guess this ghost didn't have good control over his ghost powers yet. 

Danny looked down at Sam and Tucker below, gestured to the other side of the building, and slowly floated forward. The other ghost didn't move, still looking down, and when Danny got close enough he could see a field where a handful of middle-schoolers were finishing up a soccer game. 

"Wish you could join?" Danny asked and the ghost next to him jumped. Before he could say anything, there was a snowball in his face and laughter built up in Danny's chest. 

"You got me!" he grinned as he wiped the snow off his face, it amused him to note it didn't melt. 

Once the snow was out of his eyes Danny got a look at the ghost who had thrown it. A young face filled with bright blue eyes under white hair and a mischievous smirk.

"Is this how you treat everyone who sneaks up on you?"

The other ghost shrugged. "Pretty much. It gets the fun going." 

The ghost grinned and things clicked. "Your snowball. It makes ghosts happy!"

"Yup." The ghost rocked back on his heels and jumped off the roof's edge. Using his feet, he kicked up a staff Danny had missed before.

"So you're the reason the other ghosts have been acting strange."

The ghost hunched in on himself and Danny tripped over his next words in his haste to brighten the teen up. He found that as this ghost's mood dropped, his own did too. 

"Not that I'm complaining. You making them happy meant I didn't have to fight them."

"Why would you fight them?"

Danny gave the other ghost a once over. He didn't seem to be a willing to cause trouble. Having fun could cause it's own batch of havoc, but nothing of the sort had happened the two weeks this ghost had been in town.

"Not all ghosts are content making people happy. A lot of them try to hurt the people here and I stop them."

"Well, that's good I guess."

"Yup. Danny Phantom, by the way." Danny stuck his hand out and the other ghost reached out to shake it. 

"Jack Frost."

"What brings you to Amity Park, Jack?"

"Fun!" The other ghost grinned. "The Ghost Zone got boring after awhile, so when I saw a portal I flew through it. I'm been traveling, seeing the world, for about a year now. It's changed since I died."

"Oh yeah, how long ago was that?"

"Mmm, early 1700s. Forgot the exact date."

Yeah, the world would have changed since them. 

"So, you've just been traveling the world throwing snowballs at other ghosts. Could have been worse."

"Not just ghosts, humans too. Watch."

Jack called a snowball into his hand, jumped back up on the roof's edge, looked down, and dropped the snowball.

It landed in the center of Tucker's face as he looked up that them. The boy spluttered at first, then turned to Sam and laughed. Sam just raised an eyebrow, but Jack laughed too. Danny found himself giggling, Tucker had tears in his eyes, and Sam finally let out a snort. 

"That was awesome!" Danny turned to look at Jack, who smiled back at him. "Come on, those two are my friends." 

He dived off the roof, Jack flying down after him. 

"You're friends with humans?" Jack asked and Danny looked at the other ghost. He had always thought he had been called a 'halfa' because something about his ectoplamic signature radiated that to other ghosts, but maybe it was just a case of neighborhood gossip making the local rounds. 

"Well, he protects the town from other ghosts." Sam tried to bring her face back to it's normal stern look but the edge of her mouth kept quirking up. "Hard not to like someone who saves you all the time."

"Man, you are awesome! That was a great throw! Tucker, by the way."

Jack gave a mock bow, dipping his staff with him. "Jack. Glad I could amuse you."

"You've been the one making all the ghosts happy?"

Jack twirled his staff and then planted it before answering. "Other ghosts don't like me much cuz I don't have a haunt, but hitting them with a snowball before they can attack has saved me a lot of pain."

"I can imagine," Danny said. If he could have fixed all his problems with a snowball, life would be a lot easier. 

Danny turned to face Jack fully, about to ask for a race, when he noticed another head of white hair out of the corner of his eye. Allen had just stepped into view on the other side of the street. After getting used to the sticky sweet smiles he pulled on Paulina and the teachers, it was nice to see the hard looked he had gotten that first day in the cafeteria. 

But that smug feeling of seeing the real Allen quickly morphed into fear as Allen marched across the street without bothering to look for cars. He looked murderous. Danny was still deciding to stand and fight or flee when Allen ripped off the black jacket he always wore.

The entire school knew Allen had a prosthetic left arm, the fingers were visible poking from the sleeve and it usually hung, unable to grasp things. But when Allen tossed away his jacket to land on the windshield of a parked car the arm didn't look useless anymore. 

It was glowing with a sickly green light and even as Danny watched the fingers molded together to form the barrel of a gun. Allen lifted his arm up as he came forward and Danny just heard the words "I'll send your soul to heaven" before a whine signaled an energy discharge.

Danny dropped, pulling Jack with him, and the pink bolt whizzed through the air their heads had been to hit the front steps behind them.

"Allen, what gives!" Tucker yelled, but the teen didn't answer.

He was still coming forward, eyes on Jack and Danny.

"Jack, quick, hit him with a snowball before he can fire again!"

Jack did as asked, snow appearing in his hand. He tried throwing while still pressed against the sidewalk, but it was a bad throw and Allen easily stepped aside. He shot his arm again, causing Danny and Jack to roll away. 

"Sam, Tucker, get out of here!" Danny wanted them retreat to the other side of the street and down a few houses before turning back to the fight.

Jack had sent a stream of ice towards Allen, who was now struggling to keep his footing. He had a surprising amount of balance, Danny had to give him credit. Jack took the time to fly up and Danny joined him.

"You protect humans from ghosts, huh? What about the other way around?"

"That happens very rarely. But once or twice, yeah."

Allen was off the ice and glaring up at them. His arm wasn't pointed at either of the ghost, but it wasn't simply lying along Allen's side either. If anything, the glow seemed to intensify. 

"Jack, I don't want to hurt him if possible. A lot of humans just don't understand ghosts. Hurry, hit him with a snowball. Let's see if we can get him to calm down and talk to us."

"If you say so."

Jack formed a snowball in each hand and threw them both. One, Allen dodged, but Jack had expected that and tossed the second ball lower. It hit Allen in his ear. Whereas Danny had burst into laughs almost immediately, Allen's changes were more subtle. His face didn't look as hard, but he didn't look remotely close to even smiling. 

Either Allen was immune to ghost powers, or he really hated ghosts and was determined to end the pair of them.

"You might want to make another one."

"Ye~ah."

Allen wasn't firing at them, which was strange, but his arm was glowing bright, the aura wider. Almost as if-

"Danny! He's charging!" Tucker yelled.

"Dang it!"

Allen snapped it his hand up and fired. It obliterated the snowball arching toward him and hit Jack in the chest. The ghost dropped. Worse then that, Jack disintegrated as he fell. It was as if his body turned into green fireflies, the ecto-energy heading towards the clouds. When Jack hit the ground, the impact turned his entire body in the bits of energy that soon dispersed. 

Danny had never seen a weapon capable of such damage. This weapon of Allen's didn't just stop or hurt ghosts, it disintegrated them from the edges in. No way Allen had hooked up with Valerie and Vlad. Vald would never have supplied lethal weapons to use against Danny. 

He was leaning towards undercover agent for the GIW.

Danny was so preoccupied with watching Jack die a final death and figuring Allen out he almost got hit by another blast. Sam's scream of "DANNY!" had him distort his middle just in time to avoid the pink beam. He rolled to the side and quickly shot further up into the sky. 

It didn't seem to deter Allen. He shot a blast into the sky, coming awfully close to hitting Danny despite being invisible. 

Vaguely, he heard Sam and Tucker arguing with Allen to stop shooting and a look over his shoulder showed his friends had decided to cross the street and try to stop Allen themselves. Tucker was trying to pull down Allen's arm gun while Sam kept putting her hands in his face to block his view. As he watched, Allen shoved Sam to the side and then turned to punch Tucker in the face with his right hand. 

That would not do. 

Danny turned around and came back to the ground, becoming visible as he did. Allen wasn't paying attention. Sam was yelling at him as she crouched over a knocked out Tucker, but Allen seemed to only be halfway paying attention as he checked his glowing arm for damages. 

He called up an ice beam and aimed it at Allen's arm. That snapped Allen's head towards him and Danny hovered just out of arm's reach with crossed arms. He glanced towards Sam, her nod sent relief for Tucker flooding through his system, and then turned his attention to Allen.

"What gives?! You can't just go around attacking people! And what's up with the glowing arm?"

Allen scowled at him. "How long have you been inside that body, ghost?"

Danny instantly floated back a few inches. "I'm not overshadowing anyone. This is me."

"It wasn't originally." Allen used his right arm to gestured to his left eye, the tattooed one that had gotten him appreciative looks from Sam and some of the other school goths. Now that Danny looked at it, the ink was giving off a soft glow.

"I can tell when a human is possessed, I can see their soul struggling for control. That body may be yours now but I'm willing to bet you killed the boy it belongs to before overshadowing it."

If he were human, Danny would have paled. That was still a question that haunted him, was he dead or not? Half the time his heart beat and half the time it was frozen still so it was hard to say. What was he really, a ghost keeping a boy alive or a boy tethering a ghost to this side of the portal? Most of the time he could ignore such questions, he was too busy with fighting and school, but Allen's words were a jolt. 

"You're wrong." Sam was helping a woozy Tucker stand. "Danny Phantom owns that body. And he didn't kill anyone for it."

"I don't believe you, but it hardly matters." Allen raised his arm and pointed it at Danny. "Any ghost that spends too much time in this realm will go crazy and hurt people. It's my job to stop that. This ghost is dying." 

Allen shot an energy beam and Danny turned intangible to avoid it. It went through his chest alright, but it stilled connected with something. Danny screamed, falling to the sidewalk as he convulsed. Through his tears he could see his finger tips. They weren't disintegrating like Jack's had been, but then again ghostly weapons always effected him a little differently. 

There was the vague sound of screaming, the whine of a weapon powering up, and Danny felt his body jolt as a second shot hit him. He felt the tingle in his belly that indicated a change, saw the light through his clenched eyes, and took a strange comfort in the fact he would die as a human and not a ghost.

* * *

"Danny!" 

The black haired girl, Sam, had dropped her friend and rushed to place herself between Allen and the ghost for a second time. Allen glared at her. 

He crouched and quickly fired a second shot at the fallen ghost from under her arm and for his troubles got a steel toed boot in his groin. Allen dropped with a high pitched sound and Sam whirled around to the still form on the sidewalk. There was another presence at his side, the other student, the black kid whose name Allen thought was Tuck, poking at his arm. 

"There's gotta be a power button somewhere!"

While Tuck poked at seams and twisted the prosthetic this way and that, Allen regained his senses. He was used to getting hurt in a fight, just not quite like this. He swung his arm up, catching Tuck's chin, and then pulled it towards his chest as he stood. Allen ignored the boy on his rump to give his weapon a quick glance. Tuck had scratched it, but his arm was undamaged. 

Say what you wanted of the Vatican, but when they built something they built it to last. 

Allen ignored him and switched his attention to Sam and the boy she was not so gently tapping on the cheek.

Danny Fenton. 

Allen had known, of course, ever since he had first seen Danny that the boy was possessed. His eye didn't itch when looking at normal humans and when Allen had covertly activated his eye his suspicions had been confirmed. 

It was a strange possession, to be sure. Usually the body would glow and there'd be a faded image of the person behind and a few inches above, floating on a tether to the soul's body. Danny hadn't looked like that, which had been odd. The body hadn't glowed, but there had been a shifting mass of smoke in a vague human outline behind him. And it had been the smoke that gave off a soft glow.

Oh well, a ghost possessing a human was a ghost possessing a human. It didn't matter how odd it looked. Allen suspected it had something to do with age; he rarely came across long possessions and so didn't know what they looked like. He had taken it upon himself to make the ghosts in the world forcibly move on.

He knew what they would do to people if they didn't, if their obsessions over took their minds. It was better to just shoot them when he could.

But this was strange. Danny Fenton was lying on the ground, still, and that wasn't supposed to happen. Allen was no newbie to the Vatican's forces. A shot ghost would move on to the next plane. And if they were in the body of a human, well, they would still move on and the body with it's original soul would be left unharmed. 

Danny Fenton would have fallen to the sidewalk because the ghost inside him was gone and he couldn't fly on his own. The ghost wasn't supposed to have fallen itself. Looking at Danny now, he wasn't supposed to see the glowing outline of smoke. 

Allen approached the teen and the girl crying as she tried to calm herself down to take an accurate pulse reading. Her head shot up as Allen's boots came into her vision and Sam snarled at him. 

"Don't you come one step closer!"

Allen ignored her to crouch down on the other side of Danny.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. But you see, your friend was being possessed by a ghost. I had to save him and the ghost."

Sam waved a finger in his face, eyes narrowed, but when she didn't speak Allen ignored her. Instead, he looked down at Danny. The boy was alive, even if he was breathing shallow. Strange. He fell, yes, but not more than a foot and a half. Not enough to do a lot of damage. 

He'd worry about that later, for now he had to get rid of the ghost he was still seeing. Maybe because it was in a technically dead boy, he had to destroy the body too?

Allen stood and took a step over Danny's body so that he had a foot on either side of his hip. Taking aim with his arm, Allen positioned the barrel in line with Danny's heart.

Sam instantly was up too and shoving his arm away. "I don't care if you hunt ghosts, that doesn't give you the right to shoot humans!"

"My gun doesn't harm them, only ghosts."

"Well, Danny's hurt."

"And that's because the ghost is tied too closely to his body. Danny hasn't simply been possessed, his soul has been replaced by ghost's. It's not fair to him to let this continue."

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind." Tuck was back, his hand over the barrel of Allen's finger formed gun, and something clicked in Allen's head.

"You two knew he was possessed. Knew he had died, and you became friends with the ghost?" He reeled back, shocked, and wrenched his hand free. "Even if this ghost had acted like Danny, it wasn't, and I'm really sorry, but your friend is gone. This ghost needs to move on."

Again he aimed and again a teenager got in his way. 

"It's not like that," Tuck insisted. 

"You weren't aware there was a ghost in your friend?"

"It's not a possession. Not really."

"Doesn't matter, the ghost has to go-"

"It stays!" Sam's cry had Allen taking a step back and he stumbled over Danny's still inert body. Tuck reached over and steadied him. 

"It stays," Sam repeated, "because right now that ghost is a part of Danny. You can't hurt it without hurting him."

Considering Danny's current state, Allen was inclined to agree. Dead body or no, Danny should not be lying still on the sidewalk taking shallow breathes. He should either be dead or grumpily rubbing a bump on the back of his head. 

"There's something you're not telling me."

"And we're not going to."

Allen looked from Sam to Tuck. No, Tucker, now that he thought about it. 

"Will he?"

"Depends on who you're working for and why you hunt ghosts."

Allen looked between them again and then deactivated his arm. The barrel of the gun broke up in to five fingers, the glow disappeared, and it once again hung limply by his side. 

"I'll swing by Danny's house for dessert."

* * *

He hurt, worse than anything he had ever experienced before. What ever Allen had hit him with, Danny would feel it for at least a week. And with every slight movement he made sending pain up his sides, it would be hard hiding from his family.

Thankfully, tonight his parents were doing something with an ectopus in the basement and Jazz was out with friends. Danny was in no mood for eating, but Sam and Tucker had insisted so there was a carton of Chinese carry out on the table in front of him. 

"Dude, you really should eat."

"I told you guys, I don't feel hungry. I'm just beyond sore and would love a hot bath and a chance to sleep. But you said Allen was coming. I need to be awake for that."

"Pain meds still not kicking in?" Sam asked.

Danny slowly shook his head, fast movements made his body twinge. "I don't think they're going to. What every Allen hit me with, it was meant to hurt ghosts. And that's I think what's hurting right now. Human medicine isn't gonna cut it." He gave her a thin smile. "I'll live. Fast healer, remember?"

He threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I think it more important to figure out what to say to Allen." 

"That you're not a ghost possessing a dead body?"

Sam punched Tucker and Danny dropped his head to rub his hand over his face. "Well, we never ruled that out entirely."

"Danny, I'm pretty sure you're not."

"Yeah? And what makes you say that?"

"Allen. He seemed pretty surprised to how that gun of his affected you. If you were just...just Phantom possessing Fenton, I don't think what would have happened was what happened. "

Danny looked to Tucker for clarification, Danny had been unconscious for their talk with Allen, and the technogeek simply shrugged. "She's right. At the very least, he seems to know things about ghosts we haven't picked up from fighting them or reading your parents' research."

"Yeah. Do you think I should tell him?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I don't know Danny. You've asked three times and the answer is still the same. He seemed willing to listen and doesn't seem to think ghosts are inherently evil like your parents do. He also has a weapon built into his arm more effective than anything your parents built."

Danny frowned at the tabletop. There were too many pros and cons to this situation, all extreme and dangerous, and nothing to tip the scales towards one side or another. He needed more information.

"Get Allen to talk first," Tucker suggested. "Have him explain himself. He attacked first after all."

Danny shrugged. Good idea as any. 

They say around the table, picking at their food nervously for the next thirty minutes before a knock sounded at the door. Danny jerked his head up, that had to be Allen, but he couldn't quite bring himself to stand and answer the knock. Sam stood up and did it for him.

Sam returned to the kitchen with Allen Walker in tow, a box of cookies under his arm. Sam took her previous seat. Allen smiled at them, set the cookies on the table, and then pulled out the last chair at the table so he was facing Danny. 

"I'm glad we're getting the chance to talk."

"Me too," Danny said, glaring daggers at the other boy. It was a bit unnerving, how he came with a host gift and a sweet smile when a few hours ago he had tried to kill Danny. Half of him wanted to go another around. The other half reminded him that he had lost, lost badly and quickly. 

"Earlier, when fighting," Allen had seen Danny change from ghost to human, there was no denying that connection, but that didn't mean Danny had to explain the details. "You said you could see the souls of humans struggling against possession. What did you mean?"

"Exactly that. What did your friends mean when they said you were connected to the ghost?"

"That I'm connected to the ghost."

Danny sat with his arms crossed, leaning against the chair back while he stared at Allen. Allen started eating cookies while he glared back.

Sam said something that sounded like 'boys' under her breath. In another situation, Danny would and had responded with a wounded retort. Tonight, he kept staring at Allen. Who turned to look at Sam fully and strangely give her a little nod. 

"You're right, we are being silly and that does nothing to help my mission. Gah, I feel so much like Kanda right now." He ran a hand through his hair, his prosthetic hand Danny noted, that never so much as twitched during school.

"Kanda?" Tucker asked but Allen ignored him to turn his attention back to Danny.

"I'm the stranger here, and while in most places I've traveled to my way of seeing things is accepted it seems that here in Amity Park that's not the case."

Allen was being all sweet and polite and it ground Danny's nerves. It was like Dash being kind in the presence of teachers but a bully once they walked away. Granted, there was no one here to be sweet for because they all knew Allen's more violent side. That almost made it seem worse, as if he was trying to hide himself from the world. Not that Danny having a secret identity wasn't doing the same thing, but it felt more ethical than this....deception to their faces. 

"Can you stop that?" Danny bit out.

"Stop what?" Allen looked generally confused.

"That!" Danny waved an arm to encompass of Allen he could see. "You brought cookies like a good little house guest, and now are sitting there with a fake smile on your face and talking like a customer service rep trying to cover up a mistake. We all know you're a fighter and not a smooth talker."

"I happened to learn manners as a child."

"Maybe, but when you're not worried about appearances you do away with the politeness. I've seen you do that a couple of times and that feels more real to me then this. So stop it."

Allen looked quickly to Sam and Tucker to gauge their opinion. Tucker just shrugged and Sam didn't look like she cared either way. Actually, Sam was now looking at Danny like she was wondering what was going on in that crazy brain of his. Did she not see it? And then Allen was looking at Danny again, a calculating look in his eyes that looked much more natural on his face. He didn't say anything, but he subtly leaned back in his chair and his tone was less practiced.

"Here's the thing." Allen took another cookie and stuffed it in his mouth. "Amity Park has the largest concentration of ghosts I have ever seen. I'm surprised the Vatican didn't send me here sooner. That ghost I saved today wasn't the first, and it wasn't the last."

"Saved? You killed Jack!"

"No. I saved him. Have you ever seen what happens when a ghost is old enough it looses its sense of self? Where the only thing left is the obsession that bound it to this plane and forbade it from moving on? Judging by your faces, I'm going to say no. But let me tell you, it's not pretty. They go mad and don't care what they do to fulfill their obsession. And since it is an obsession it never ends."

"What'd you see?" Sam asked softly and Allen flinched. 

"I'm not talking about that. What I am talking about is my job. I work for the Vatican, the Church, and it's the job of me and my co-workers to travel the world and put to rest the souls I come across. It's not a painless process, I'll admit that."

Danny recalled the feeling of electricity crawling through his body, the way Jack screamed when he fell and started to disintegrate. No, it wasn't painless at all. 

"What makes me one of the best is that I can see it when there are two souls in a body, the result of a ghost possessing someone. Looking at you Danny, I see something strange. Where's there's normally a glow around the body thanks to the ghost and a tethered human soul behind it, you have a tethered glowing soul and that's it."

"Which you took to mean Danny was a corpse possessed by a ghost."

Allen shrugged. "I saw only one soul, and it belonged to a ghost. What was I supposed to think?"

Danny exchanged a look with Sam and Tucker. This talk of souls was creeping him out a little. To see one floating along behind his body, did that mean Danny didn't have one in his body? Or that it was associated with Phantom and not Fenton? Meaning he was dead? He didn't like any of these thoughts. Which is why he had actively avoid thinking about questions related to him being alive or not. 

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. She saw something positive here and was willing to back up Danny if he went for it, but was leaving the choice up to him. Tucker just had a thoughtful look on his face. They both knew this conversation was treading onto a touchy subject for Danny. 

"When I'm evaluating a new piece of technology, I usually like yes or no answers. Does it work, does it have these features?" Tucker said. Having a definite answer would be better than months of debating.

Danny didn't have to look at Sam to know she was agreeing; she had been a strong supporter of not addressing the question, but only because there was no way to properly answer it. Allen, well Allen probably could. If he didn't want to kill Danny first.

Danny turned back to Allen. "Do you still want to 'save' the ghost you see in me?"

Allen nodded. "It has to be saved, or it will go crazy and take you with it. If you two even are separate. But it's obvious my usual method doesn't work."

Allen really wanted to know why that was and Danny was tempted to tell him. He liked the idea of having his own questions asked. However, Allen had essentially admitted to still wanting to kill him.

"Tell me about the ghost in you."

Danny blinked, startled by the change in thought process. "He's...new I guess. Just a year old."

Allen nodded. "And do you know his obsession?"

Danny shared another look with his friends. This had also been the subject of multiple conversations. Did Phantom even have an obsession, being half ghost? Or did he not feel it very strongly? And what was it?

"Maybe," Tucker answered. "It's hard to tell in such a new ghost don't you think?"

"It's usually pretty obvious-"

"Yeah, well Phantom's not your normal ghost." Tucker countered.

"No," Allen said, eyeing Danny. "No, he's not."

Danny wished he had more than his arms to cover himself with.

"Phantom hasn't shown any destructive behavior," Sam insisted. "He works to protect the town, stopping bad ghosts."

"There' a lot of obsessions related to that. Wanting the admiration or worship of others-"

"With all the bad press Phantom gets?" Danny snorted. "No one likes what he's doing, so he doesn't care about what people think of him."

"He could keep doing it hoping something will change in the future."

"No."

"Violence then."

"He doesn't go around fighting everyone he can. Jack and him were just talking earlier today."

"Saving people," Sam said.

Danny glared at her and Allen looked doubtful. 

"I've never meet a ghost with an obsession that was related to others. It always relates to them."

"What does it matter?" Danny threw up his hands in frustration. "Phantom has never had any negative inclinations towards Amity Park. He wants to help it."

"And does he help you?" Allen asked.

"Help me what?"

"Ghosts have power. Has he ever used them to help you as individual?"

"Once or twice. Avoiding bullies."

"And you two," Allen gestured to Sam and Tucker, "Have you ever seen Danny act out of character? Did his behavior change a year ago? Are there events he can't remember, or remembers wrongly?"

"Nope." "None at all."

Allen went back to staring at Danny.

Danny was still in no way willing to tell Allen he was in fact Danny Phantom, not unless the other teen was willing to not hurt him. Which didn't seem to be happen. 

After a minute, Allen sighed.

"I know you're still holding out on me, but I'm guessing you have more at stake than I do. The facts are, Danny, I can't save the ghost you're sharing that body with. All I can do is cause you pain and I have no desire to do that. I won't attack you again."

"What about the other ghosts here? They might be a little crazy, and some of them focused on their own gain at the expense of others, but not all of them are evil."

"I'll concede that Amity Park has...rules that are different then the rest of the world. And if it really was that big of an issue I think the Vatican would have actually sent me here instead of on a wondering mission through the state. If this place hasn't attracted the Vatican's attention, it is most likely doing okay on its own. So again, I won't go randomly attacking ghosts here. But I would like a list of ghost you think could use saving."

Danny thought about that. There were a few ghosts he would like to never deal with again, and if Allen was right he was sending them beyond and preventing future harm done by an obsession crazed ghost. Ember. Spectra. Skulker maybe. The hunter hadn't gotten third parties involved in their chase and Danny was surprised to realize that if Allen did smoke him Danny would miss Skulker.

"I can give you a list."

Allen nodded. "I'm also going to come back and check up on you. Make sure that ghost doesn't start taking over you completely. You two," he swung a cookie from Sam to Tucker, "look out for strange behavior and let me know if I should come back."

Tucker looked like there was no way that was going to happen and Sam was giving little head jerks towards Allen. No doubt she wanted Danny to offer up his side of the story, reveal himself as a halfa to clear himself in Allen's mind, but Danny wasn't ready for that yet. Maybe when Allen came back to 'check on him' and followed what he said he'd do. 

He wanted answers to his questions, Tucker was probably right that a mind at rest was the best thing, but he still wasn't sure what Allen would do with the information. He could wait.

Danny reached over to take a cookie from the box Allen had brought, was there really only two left? "Sounds like a plan."

Allen looked liked he wanted to say something else, but shook his head. He stuffed the last cookie in his mouth and then stood up. "Give me that list in school tomorrow and by the end of the week I'll be gone."

"Amity Park's an interesting place, sure you don't want to stay a bit longer and learn?" Sam leaned forward onto the table and Danny had to roll his eyes. She had always been into the metaphysical and Allen was most likely a treasure trove of information she wouldn't get from the Skulk and Lurk.

"Amity Park isn't the only place with souls that need saving. You guys have Phantom, other towns have nothing."

Danny stood up, slowly and pushing himself up with hands on the table, and walked around the table. "I'll see you out."

"Thanks. And I apologize for hitting you with my weapon. You look like you're still in pain."

Danny didn't bother responding to that.

At the door, Danny hesitated to open it. "You're not going to tell us about where you got your arm, or why you can see ghosts, or more about this Vatican and your history with ghosts are you?"

Allen gave one of those polite smiles again. "Now Danny, I gave you much more information than you did. And I understand why. But I'm not giving away all of my secrets."

"Fair enough. But no one else from the Vatican is gonna come through here and try shooting me are they?"

"I can't promise no one will walk through, but I'll do nothing to encourage it and make a note in my report that this town is taken care off. Best I can do."

"Thanks."

"This only works of course if your ghost and the others around her behave. You know that right?"

"Yes. So I'll make sure that happens."

"Do that. See you in school Danny."

"See ya." Danny didn't even wait for Allen to finish going down the stairs before closing the front door behind him. 

He felt unsettled and the brief walk had taken more out if him then it should have. And a little sad for the changes coming. But by the end of the week his ghost fights would probably be less and he could study for his next text. And while they stood on opposite sides of an issue, something about Allen resonated with Danny. In different circumstances he'd imagine them as allies if not friends. Sorta how he wanted to be with Valerie. 

Maybe that would come in time, as Allen came through Amity Park to check up on him and the other ghosts. And he'd learn for sure how to categorize himself. But that was for later and right now Danny just wanted to fall asleep on the couch while watching TV with a friend on either side of him. He deserved it after a day like today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Because it's not mentioned in the story here's Allen's back story:**
> 
> Neah died and became a ghost with the obsession of every big brother - protect his younger brother. So he took to haunting Mana but didn't reveal himself because he wanted Mana to move on. But it sorta backfired. Ghostly shenanigans picked at Mana's mind and lost him a variety of jobs. Shortly after joining the circus, Mana was attacked by another clown and Neah overshadowed Mana to force his brother to defend himself. And then realized that was the best way to protect him. Neah stayed in Mana all the time after that.
> 
> Allen was abandoned because of a disfigured arm, shrunken with a deformed hand that was at his elbow. He was left on the local church's steps. When he was three, a new priest came who had the idea that Allen needed to be exorcised and his arm would be normal. He left the church cuz he was scared, found Mana, and lived with him for a few years before crossing paths with the priest again. The priest kidnapped Allen, drew on his face with holy water and began his spell. 
> 
> It'd didn't go quite as expected. For one, Neah's obsession had expanded to include Allen and so when the kid went missing he forced Mana's body to find him. The other issue was the spell was supposed to bring the Holy Spirit into Allen's body to kick out the devil, but since there was no devil Allen just got a holy super power. Namely, seeing the souls of ghosts when they are tied to a person. (Allen can't use his eye to see normal ghosts just floating around. They have to be overshadowing someone.) 
> 
> Allen gained this ability watching Mana fight the priest, only he suddenly realized that Mana's wasn't just Mana anymore. Neah knocked the priest out, grabbed Allen, and ran.
> 
> Neah then did his best to explain ghosts and spirits to Allen, helped him understand what he was seeing. Allen was a bit confused, but went along with it. But as time went by Neah started seeing threats everywhere, becoming overly aggressive and preventing Allen from doing things. After a few months, Neah had decided the best way to protect Allen and Neah was to live in an isolated house with boarded windows.
> 
> Allen knew this was bad news, caused a commotion in town to try to prevent it, but was eventually dragged away by Neah/Mana. This was, of course, spotted by Cross who came looking for them. Knowing Mana, and that this was not how he was supposed to be, Cross shot him. Allen made a comment about watching Neah smile and he and Cross had a long talk. Allen joined the Vatican, where they cut off his arm and fitted him with the fake - Crown Clown.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this is going, but if you have any ideas or prompts or scene suggestions or whatever, I'm happy to read them.


End file.
